Carmine Falcone
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I had Ratatouille for diner tonight.
And I mean the dish.
And I mean the dish.
Ratatouille
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Darth Elektra
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Darth Elektra
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Pixar's "Ratatouille" a tasty treat
Brad Bird and Pixar Animation Studios are proving to be an unbeatable combination.
Bird, the cartoon writer-director with delightfully off-kilter sensibilities, and Pixar, the cutting-edge computer-animation company that places so very much emphasis on character, have their second hit together in "Ratatouille," a follow-up to the universally popular "The Incredibles." Who would think a rat in a restaurant's kitchen would induce anything other than comic slapstick involving knives and cleavers flying in all directions? Yet Bird builds a comic world in which a rat can become a chef and food can take on an almost unbearable sensuality.
Yes, there's something in the kitchen for everyone in "Ratatouille," so the Mouse House should clear a wing in its hall of fame for Cousin Rat. "Ratatouille" might not reach the international boxoffice heights of "The Incredibles" -- then again, maybe it will -- but the film does rep another huge leap in CGI technique and imagination by the Pixar folks.
Heroes with impossible dreams are the stuff movies are made of. But "Ratatouille" gives us two seemingly hapless protagonists battling impossible odds. The first is Remy (voiced by comic Patton Oswalt), an uncommon French rat who refuses to nibble on garbage. Mais non, he prefers haute cuisine delicacies out of human kitchens. Indeed, his hero is Paris' culinary superstar Auguste Gusteau, whose motto -- and best-selling book -- is "Anybody Can Cook." But did Gusteau have Remy in mind?
The second hard case is Linguini (Lou Romano), a garbage boy at Gusteau's eponymous restaurant. In a way, his is the more desperate case because he loves the world of food but can't cook worth a lick. When Remy, momentarily stranded in Gusteau's, sees the mess Linguini has made of a soup when no one was watching, he quickly hurls ingredients in from all over the kitchen, turning the soup into the best thing that kitchen has produced in ages.
It seems old Gusteau has passed on to that kitchen in the sky. His sous chef, Skinner (Ian Holm), drawn to look like an evil and miniaturized Cantinflas, is content to coast on the restaurant's name while crassly expanding into frozen food. When Linguini receives credit for Remy's artistry, Skinner is forced to hire him as a cook. But Skinner challenges him to repeat his "accidental" soup recipe. When Linguini comes to the startling realization that a rat actually created the soup, he knows his goose, you should excuse the expression, is cooked.
But wait! Linguini and Remy develop a means to communicate. Through trial and much error (meaning much slapstick), Remy learns that by perching on the top of Linguini's head under his chef's hat and pulling tuffs of thick hair to manipulate limbs, he can pilot Linguini through his food-prep station. Soon, Linguini/Remy have the old magic back in Gusteau's kitchen, light a romantic fire underneath its sole female cook, Colette (Janeane Garofalo), has Skinner doing a slow burn and attracted the unwanted attention of the town's haughtiest critic, Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole at his most imperial and majestic self).
Cartoon food certainly has come a long way from the spaghetti-by-candlelight scene in Walt Disney's "Lady and the Tramp." In Bird's kitchen, sauces steam and bubble over brilliant flames, red wine shimmers in crystal glasses, vegetables slice, grate and chop in a frenzy of tiny flying objects, and the camera and cooks are in constant motion in a choreographed ballet with swift, tuxedoed waiters. Everything is so realistic in its textures, colors and smells -- yes, you'll swear you can smell the food -- that the next time you switch on the Food Channel will bring disappointment: It doesn't look like Gusteau's!
The movement of all the characters from the rats, right down to their hairs and tail, to the humans flying this way and that has an authentic precision that adds to the comic action immeasurably. But trumping even the photorealism of this Parisian fantasia is the utter charm of it all.
The parallel rat world is rendered in equally imaginative details so that Remy becomes an outsider in his own community by his insistence that food is art. The symbiotic friendship between Remy and Linguini carries genuine sympathy and caring. An engaging chef Gusteau (Brad Garrett) appears to Remy frequently as "a figment of your imagination" to offer advice and support to Remy. And the ratatouille dish that breaks the great critic's heart is a reminder that all great food takes you back to mama's kitchen.
Bon appetit!
Brad Bird and Pixar Animation Studios are proving to be an unbeatable combination.
Bird, the cartoon writer-director with delightfully off-kilter sensibilities, and Pixar, the cutting-edge computer-animation company that places so very much emphasis on character, have their second hit together in "Ratatouille," a follow-up to the universally popular "The Incredibles." Who would think a rat in a restaurant's kitchen would induce anything other than comic slapstick involving knives and cleavers flying in all directions? Yet Bird builds a comic world in which a rat can become a chef and food can take on an almost unbearable sensuality.
Yes, there's something in the kitchen for everyone in "Ratatouille," so the Mouse House should clear a wing in its hall of fame for Cousin Rat. "Ratatouille" might not reach the international boxoffice heights of "The Incredibles" -- then again, maybe it will -- but the film does rep another huge leap in CGI technique and imagination by the Pixar folks.
Heroes with impossible dreams are the stuff movies are made of. But "Ratatouille" gives us two seemingly hapless protagonists battling impossible odds. The first is Remy (voiced by comic Patton Oswalt), an uncommon French rat who refuses to nibble on garbage. Mais non, he prefers haute cuisine delicacies out of human kitchens. Indeed, his hero is Paris' culinary superstar Auguste Gusteau, whose motto -- and best-selling book -- is "Anybody Can Cook." But did Gusteau have Remy in mind?
The second hard case is Linguini (Lou Romano), a garbage boy at Gusteau's eponymous restaurant. In a way, his is the more desperate case because he loves the world of food but can't cook worth a lick. When Remy, momentarily stranded in Gusteau's, sees the mess Linguini has made of a soup when no one was watching, he quickly hurls ingredients in from all over the kitchen, turning the soup into the best thing that kitchen has produced in ages.
It seems old Gusteau has passed on to that kitchen in the sky. His sous chef, Skinner (Ian Holm), drawn to look like an evil and miniaturized Cantinflas, is content to coast on the restaurant's name while crassly expanding into frozen food. When Linguini receives credit for Remy's artistry, Skinner is forced to hire him as a cook. But Skinner challenges him to repeat his "accidental" soup recipe. When Linguini comes to the startling realization that a rat actually created the soup, he knows his goose, you should excuse the expression, is cooked.
But wait! Linguini and Remy develop a means to communicate. Through trial and much error (meaning much slapstick), Remy learns that by perching on the top of Linguini's head under his chef's hat and pulling tuffs of thick hair to manipulate limbs, he can pilot Linguini through his food-prep station. Soon, Linguini/Remy have the old magic back in Gusteau's kitchen, light a romantic fire underneath its sole female cook, Colette (Janeane Garofalo), has Skinner doing a slow burn and attracted the unwanted attention of the town's haughtiest critic, Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole at his most imperial and majestic self).
Cartoon food certainly has come a long way from the spaghetti-by-candlelight scene in Walt Disney's "Lady and the Tramp." In Bird's kitchen, sauces steam and bubble over brilliant flames, red wine shimmers in crystal glasses, vegetables slice, grate and chop in a frenzy of tiny flying objects, and the camera and cooks are in constant motion in a choreographed ballet with swift, tuxedoed waiters. Everything is so realistic in its textures, colors and smells -- yes, you'll swear you can smell the food -- that the next time you switch on the Food Channel will bring disappointment: It doesn't look like Gusteau's!
The movement of all the characters from the rats, right down to their hairs and tail, to the humans flying this way and that has an authentic precision that adds to the comic action immeasurably. But trumping even the photorealism of this Parisian fantasia is the utter charm of it all.
The parallel rat world is rendered in equally imaginative details so that Remy becomes an outsider in his own community by his insistence that food is art. The symbiotic friendship between Remy and Linguini carries genuine sympathy and caring. An engaging chef Gusteau (Brad Garrett) appears to Remy frequently as "a figment of your imagination" to offer advice and support to Remy. And the ratatouille dish that breaks the great critic's heart is a reminder that all great food takes you back to mama's kitchen.
Bon appetit!
french joker
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ahahahahahahahahaI had Ratatouille for diner tonight.
And I mean the dish.
t:
Green Goblin 1964
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http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ratatouille/
Oh my lord! 100% with 22 reviews being ALL positive....I'm impressed.
Oh my lord! 100% with 22 reviews being ALL positive....I'm impressed.
Darth Elektra
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Sweet.
Darth Elektra
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Review: `Ratatouille' Is Visually Rich
"Ratatouille" may be the first Pixar movie that is so advanced, so sophisticated, it doesn't feel like it was made for kids.
On a fundamental level, sure, children will probably enjoy watching the animated adventures of Remy, a plucky Parisian rat who leaves the colony to pursue his dream of becoming a gourmet chef. There's some slapsticky physical comedy, and writer-director Brad Bird, the mastermind behind "The Incredibles," keeps things going at a lively, engaging clip.
But there's nothing silly or childlike about it. If you stop to think about it, the main character is experiencing an existential crisis: Stay with the family and safely sift through garbage, as his rodent ancestors have done for centuries, or risk loneliness, abject failure and worse death by chasing after a loftier goal? Heady stuff there.
"Ratatouille" is also visually wondrous in ways that are both lush and intricately detailed, in ways that seem to have been tailored more toward grown-up tastes and sensibilities. It would seem that computer-generated technology couldn't get any better, but wow it just does. The multitude of animators clearly paid close attention to facets of our daily lives that we take for granted: knife marks on a cutting board, the way raindrops splash when they hit the sidewalk, the glow from a street lamp. Sitting through "Ratatouille," it doesn't take long for you to forget that you're watching an animated movie and just allow yourself to become immersed in this glorious realism.
The filmmakers also have done marvelous things with perspective, often allowing us to see what it's like through Remy's small, beady eyes. We feel as if we're rushing down a sewer or scampering through walls and underneath serving carts, trying to avoid being squished, and it's thrilling.
The plot may be a bit thin, though: The furry, expressive Remy (voiced by comedian Patton Oswalt) literally manipulates gangly garbage boy Linguini (Lou Romano), Cyrano De Bergerac-style, into whipping up his culinary concoctions in the kitchen of a once-revered restaurant. Remy hides beneath Linguini's toque, yanking his hair every which direction to prompt him to chop, flip or stir. They try not to get caught.
Maybe it just feels paltry compared to "The Incredibles," Bird's Oscar winner about a family of superheroes trying to live quietly in suburbia, which worked beautifully both as pure entertainment and as a film with something to say. (Here, Bird has taken over as director for Pixar animator Jan Pinkava, who came up with the idea and gets a story-by credit.)
Blissfully, though, "Ratatouille" is free of the kind of gratuitous pop-culture references that plague so many movies of the genre; it tells a story, it's very much of our world but it never goes for the cheap, easy gag no jokes about Emeril or "The Iron Chef."
Even the vocal cast, which is indeed star-studded, never feels like distracting stunt casting.
Brian Dennehy provides the voice of Remy's no-nonsense dad, Django, who's perfectly happy eating trash. Brad Garrett is Gusteau, the famous chef who appears to Remy as an apparition, and whose restaurant falls from five stars to three after his death. Janeane Garofalo plays the very stern, very French Colette, the only woman in the kitchen, with whom Linguini embarks on a romance. Ian Holm is the scheming, diminutive chef Skinner, who takes over Gusteau's and wants to use the household name to pump out frozen food.
Best of all is Peter O'Toole as a powerful food critic with the fabulous name of Anton Ego, whose office is shaped like a coffin and who looks as if he may fall into one at any moment. O'Toole is ideally cast, his rich British accent making even the most benign, offhanded remark sound like condescending condemnation.
"Ratatouille," a Disney Pixar release, is rated G. Running time: 110 minutes. Three stars out of four.
"Ratatouille" may be the first Pixar movie that is so advanced, so sophisticated, it doesn't feel like it was made for kids.
On a fundamental level, sure, children will probably enjoy watching the animated adventures of Remy, a plucky Parisian rat who leaves the colony to pursue his dream of becoming a gourmet chef. There's some slapsticky physical comedy, and writer-director Brad Bird, the mastermind behind "The Incredibles," keeps things going at a lively, engaging clip.
But there's nothing silly or childlike about it. If you stop to think about it, the main character is experiencing an existential crisis: Stay with the family and safely sift through garbage, as his rodent ancestors have done for centuries, or risk loneliness, abject failure and worse death by chasing after a loftier goal? Heady stuff there.
"Ratatouille" is also visually wondrous in ways that are both lush and intricately detailed, in ways that seem to have been tailored more toward grown-up tastes and sensibilities. It would seem that computer-generated technology couldn't get any better, but wow it just does. The multitude of animators clearly paid close attention to facets of our daily lives that we take for granted: knife marks on a cutting board, the way raindrops splash when they hit the sidewalk, the glow from a street lamp. Sitting through "Ratatouille," it doesn't take long for you to forget that you're watching an animated movie and just allow yourself to become immersed in this glorious realism.
The filmmakers also have done marvelous things with perspective, often allowing us to see what it's like through Remy's small, beady eyes. We feel as if we're rushing down a sewer or scampering through walls and underneath serving carts, trying to avoid being squished, and it's thrilling.
The plot may be a bit thin, though: The furry, expressive Remy (voiced by comedian Patton Oswalt) literally manipulates gangly garbage boy Linguini (Lou Romano), Cyrano De Bergerac-style, into whipping up his culinary concoctions in the kitchen of a once-revered restaurant. Remy hides beneath Linguini's toque, yanking his hair every which direction to prompt him to chop, flip or stir. They try not to get caught.
Maybe it just feels paltry compared to "The Incredibles," Bird's Oscar winner about a family of superheroes trying to live quietly in suburbia, which worked beautifully both as pure entertainment and as a film with something to say. (Here, Bird has taken over as director for Pixar animator Jan Pinkava, who came up with the idea and gets a story-by credit.)
Blissfully, though, "Ratatouille" is free of the kind of gratuitous pop-culture references that plague so many movies of the genre; it tells a story, it's very much of our world but it never goes for the cheap, easy gag no jokes about Emeril or "The Iron Chef."
Even the vocal cast, which is indeed star-studded, never feels like distracting stunt casting.
Brian Dennehy provides the voice of Remy's no-nonsense dad, Django, who's perfectly happy eating trash. Brad Garrett is Gusteau, the famous chef who appears to Remy as an apparition, and whose restaurant falls from five stars to three after his death. Janeane Garofalo plays the very stern, very French Colette, the only woman in the kitchen, with whom Linguini embarks on a romance. Ian Holm is the scheming, diminutive chef Skinner, who takes over Gusteau's and wants to use the household name to pump out frozen food.
Best of all is Peter O'Toole as a powerful food critic with the fabulous name of Anton Ego, whose office is shaped like a coffin and who looks as if he may fall into one at any moment. O'Toole is ideally cast, his rich British accent making even the most benign, offhanded remark sound like condescending condemnation.
"Ratatouille," a Disney Pixar release, is rated G. Running time: 110 minutes. Three stars out of four.
Kmack
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What did you think about the short?
Ratatouille is currently certified 97% FRESH @ Rottentomatoes with a 8.5/10 average rating. 30 out of 31 critics game the film a "fresh" review. . .sounds great
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ratatouille/
Ratatouille is currently certified 97% FRESH @ Rottentomatoes with a 8.5/10 average rating. 30 out of 31 critics game the film a "fresh" review. . .sounds great
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ratatouille/
Sentinel X
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I really want to watch this, after seeing cars (I couldn't even finish it, it was that bad 
) I was disappointed with pixar but this movie looks like it'll make up for the mistake
) I was disappointed with pixar but this movie looks like it'll make up for the mistake
Green Goblin 1964
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Carmine Falcone
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That's probably the first time EVER that some has referred to a Pixar films as a ''Mother****er''
*applauds*
*applauds*
I SEE SPIDEY
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I loved the movie, Brad Bird is the best. I'm glad it didn't turn out like Finding Nemo. A very charming and sweet film. It's easily the best film of the summer of crap. Rating: 9/10. If you are tired of load annoying sequels to better movies, go see this! Yay Pixar.
Alexia Dark
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The first time I heard about it, I thought it was the dumbest concept ever, so I decided not to see it.
Then I got sick and tired of seeing it on absolutely everything. Yahoo, every entertainment show, every commercial... ugh. It must have 10x the publicity SM3 had, for crying out loud!
I'm still not gonna see it.
Then I got sick and tired of seeing it on absolutely everything. Yahoo, every entertainment show, every commercial... ugh. It must have 10x the publicity SM3 had, for crying out loud!
I'm still not gonna see it.
terry78
My name is Stefan, sweet thang
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You're missing out. Go see it, and I'll bet you five bucks Collette reminds you of a french version of yourself.
TheVileOne
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Well you are doing yourself a disservice, and the movie was fantastic.
And Cars was only 116 minutes. Only a minute longer than The Incredibles.
Cars was pretty successful, so obviously a few people had to like it.
And Cars was only 116 minutes. Only a minute longer than The Incredibles.
Cars was pretty successful, so obviously a few people had to like it.
Anita18
DANCE FOR ME, FUNNY MAN!
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Ugh, I was too entranced by the visuals to pay attention to what he was saying.
But I think the important part was, "Not anyone can be a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere." I guess?Anyhow, I loved it. Just the animation even....just stunning. They put in a lot of visual gags too (I LOLed in the theater after seeing how Anton Ego's typewriter resembled a skull. And how the eville chef was excited over selling "MILLIONS of burritos!" )
I'll also never tire of tiny rat squeaks.
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